Forms of periodic catatonia in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: differences in the levels of platelet enzyme activity

Background. Attacks of periodic catatonia in schizophrenia and other schizophrenia spectrum disorders pose a challenge for the development of differentiated individual therapeutic approaches. Objective of the study: comparative analysis of the levels of activity of platelet enzymes of glutamate, energy and glutathione metabolism in patients with various clinical forms of attacks (hypo-, para- and multikinetic) of periodic catatonia, developing in schizophrenia and schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Material and Methods. The study was carried out by employees of the Department for the Study of Borderline Mental Pathology and Psychosomatic Disorders and the Laboratory of Neurochemistry of the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “Mental Health Research Center”. The study included patients (n=39) of the main group, including 16 men and 23 women, with hypokinetic, parakinetic and multikinetic forms of attacks of periodic catatonia in schizophrenia and schizophrenia spectrum disorders (schizoaffective or schizotypal) and volunteers without diagnosed mental disorders (n=22, 9 men and 13 women) in the control group. The activity levels of enzymes (cytochrome c oxidase, glutamate dehydrogenase, phosphate-activated glutaminase, glutathione reductase, glutathione-S-transferase) in platelet extracts of patients in the main group and volunteers in the control group were determined by spectrophotometric kinetic methods.